As he joined an intense week of protests at Istanbul’s Bogazici University, Enes Gozukucuk contemplated how much he had changed since joining one of Turkey’s most prestigious academic institutions.
Born to devout religious parents, he was, in his own words “homophobic” and “not so open-minded” on racial and ethnic equality. But this week he was on the front line of demonstrations opposed to the appointment of a government-chosen rector who has been accused of targeting LGBT freedoms.
“This university taught me how to be a good person, to respect other people no matter what,” said the 23-year-old. “This is why I’m protesting now. This university should stay like this. Turkey needs people like us.
Protests have simmered at Bogazici’s central Istanbul campus since early January when President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the appointment of Melih Bulu, a failed ruling party candidate, as the new head of the university.
More than 150 people were arrested on Monday as hundreds of students from Bogazici and elsewhere gathered for their fifth successive week of demonstrations. Further arrests followed in subsequent days at solidarity protests that rippled through Turkish cities.
Such public outpourings of discontent are rare in Turkey, where the government has become increasingly intolerant of demonstrations in recent years.
Atilla Yesilada, an Istanbul-based political analyst at the GlobalSource Partners consultancy, is watching to see if they gain momentum. “The length of these protests — and the government’s attitude — dispels one of the biggest fears of secular, urban, well-heeled opposition voters,” he explained. “This perception that if we go out on to the streets we’re going to be decimated is disappearing each day.
This raises the odds of other groups, either in sympathy to Bogazici or for their own reasons, will stage demos
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